I’m really bad at picking my favorite anything,” says Aubrey Plaza, the 25- year-old actress who appears on NBC’s primetime gem Parks and Recreation. “I don’t really have a favorite movie or band or color or candy bar or parent. I’m pretty inconsistent in all areas of my life. Maybe that’s why I’m an actor?” Whatever the reason, Plaza should keep at it. In addition to her recurring role on Parks, the banged brunette recently appeared in Judd Apatow’s Funny People and will soon be seen in the Michael Cera vehicle, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. “Oh my God!” she says, “I totally forgot to put the song I was named after on this list! It’s called ‘Aubrey’ and it’s by Bread, this weird ’70s band. It’s actually really depressing when you listen to it. Can we add an eleventh song to this thing? Either way, here are 10 songs that have nothing to do with each other.”
Judy Garland’s “Do It Again.” I have been obsessed with Judy Garland since I was 12. I don’t know why. It’s really weird how I got into her. I had to do this project in seventh grade on decades. My decade was the ’60s, I think, the decade she died. Some people said that she killed herself and some people said that it was an accidental overdose. For some reason, I got all Nancy Drew-obsessed with trying to figure out how she died. Now I know everything about her, in a creepy way. My room was covered with pictures of her.
Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Crimson & Clover.” I enjoy love songs about people who hardly know each other. The lyrics are something like, “I don’t hardly know her, but I think I could love her.”
Hap Palmer’s “I Can Put My Clothes On By Myself.” This is from an album that Amy [Poehler, her co-star in Parks and Recreation] and I found while shooting on location at a preschool. We were stealing things, like we usually do, and started listening to all these weird children’s albums. Hap Palmer makes kids songs sound like cool ’70s rock songs. I listen to them while I clean.
Coconut Records’ “I Am Young.” This song is in Funny People. Jason Schwartzman did a lot of the music for the movie [under the name Coconut Records]. That movie kind of changed my life, so I felt like I needed to add a song from it. Before Funny People, I was waiting tables. Literally, the week before I got cast, I was broke and didn’t have a job. I still feel like, any day now, I’ll have to go back to New York and start taking people’s orders again.
The Spring Standards’ “In The Underground.” I grew up with these guys in Delaware and now they are a real fucking band. I don’t know what it is about Delaware, but there are a lot of talented people out there. I think there’s some
strange radioactive stuff in the water. You should buy this album. The Beatles’
“I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” I went on a road trip last August, from Chicago to L.A. We stopped at a Starbucks to get pumpkin lattes, and ended up buying all of these Beatles albums. I don’t know why, but it’s more fun to listen to something that you bought at Starbucks. We also listened to this Stephen King book on tape that was read by Anne Heche for nine hours.
Judy Garland’s “The Man That Got Away.” This song is in A Star is Born, one of my favorite movies of all time. I’ve watched everything with Judy in it. I’ve read so many books about her. She’s just one of those famous people who made me want to act.
Big Pun’s “100%.” I’m half Puerto Rican. This song makes me want to be full Puerto Rican.
Ben Folds Five’s “Don’t Change Your Plans.” This reminds me of when I was in Spain on a high school field trip. It was all juniors and seniors, but I went as a freshman. I didn’t have any friends, so ended up getting lost on my own, looking at old castles and listening to Ben Folds’ voice.
Aqua’s “Barbie Girl.” I think I hate this song.
From BlackBook
